Chickadee and I have been thinking about all of you...while we were at Golden Corral this morning we were wondering how the livermush tasted at the Log Cabin! :)

01-20-2013, 12:48

Acer

All I can say is WOW! On the other postings and glad your all safe and sound after a experience like you just had. Think of all you learned for the "cloud with the silver lining". Hope your next hang is alot better as I know it will be. :)

01-20-2013, 13:00

BFGMofo

Pot luck and raffle were a huge success. Doctari, your eggs were greatly enjoyed by all fireside Friday night.

I am glad you all made it home safe and sound. Bonsai, let me know when you post your vids to YouTube and I will be subscribing to your channel. I felt bad turning back on Thursday as I watched you, Chickadee, Doctari and WV continue on up the trail toward the Wise shelter but later that day realized someone was looking out for me.

WV, you have inspired me to get back into my "trail shape", you are a machine and thanks again for lending me those gators.

I look forward to seeing you all again at the 8th annual Mt Rogers hang.

Ps. Hickory sustained and injury of the equine sort on Saturday but its his story so I will let him tell it.

Happy trails my friends.
Dave
aka BFGMofo

01-20-2013, 14:23

WV

I learned that the excitement isn't over when the danger is past ... or something like that. My pants were soaked when we got to the Wise shelter, but I was able to change into dry ones quickly, and felt much better. If others had seemed to be in the same shape I would have elected to stay at the shelter as planned, but collective (if diminished) brainpower worked. I could see that Doctari and Bonsaihiker were struggling, but they spearheaded the group decision to head on to the campground, which in retrospect was certainly the right thing to do. The stream crossing left the second set of legwear wet and soaked my boots. I was impressed that Chickadee would wade right in (with encouragement). Tough chick.

Fortunately my winter gear goes up quickly, and I slept warm (with some improvised additions to my footbox). The tough part for me was getting up Friday morning and realizing that despite a warm night's rest I was still firing on two cylinders, and I didn't have any dry gloves. The wet snow falling the night before seemed only a nuisance, but an awful lot of it had melted on me and my gear as I was setting up my hammock, and a lot of snow and frozen garments went into my sock/tent with me. The next two days became a process of drying my gear, feeding the engine (eating), staying hydrated, doing everything needed a little bit at a time. I often recalled Bonsaihiker's urging at the Wise shelter, "Focus!" Many little acts of kindness from Hickery, 2Q and others kept me on the right path through the weekend. It wasn't until Saturday afternoon that I was able to relax my vigilance and enjoy a walk to collect water from the spring along the trail we'd taken Thursday. The woods were beautiful.

01-20-2013, 15:47

mbiraman

I'm glad things worked out for everyone. Cold wet weather is nothing to take lightly.

bill

01-20-2013, 17:20

bonsaihiker

I'm glad to hear you made it home safely, WV. I've been worried about you. That was some adventure we had there. I'll pass the comments on to Chickadee--she will enjoy that. She really did well, and I haven't stopped reminding her of that. This is an experience that will definitely give her some perspective over future problems.

01-20-2013, 17:27

slowhike

Quote:

Originally Posted by BFGMofo

Ps. Hickory sustained and injury of the equine sort on Saturday but its his story so I will let him tell it.

I'll be dogged, I told him not to try & ride the ponies again:scared::eek::scared:
:D:rolleyes::D

01-20-2013, 17:43

bonsaihiker

BFGMofo, you have no idea how much hope you gave us by being back at the campground. At least for Chickadee and I, we knew that if we could just make it there, at least one person would be there and able to drive us back to our car, and then everything would be OK. I knew that would be key to our survival. My hiking clothes were still dripping wet after getting back home, and I do actually mean I could still wring water from them. We were in an incredibly dangerous situation at that point, and knowing you were there kept us going.

Also, thank you for checking on me. I don't honestly remember all of it, but Doctari mentioned a couple of visits you made, urging me to stop setting up camp and get back in the car. I guess I said "Thank you," but I don't remember that. That's what is really scary--I had no idea how bad I was getting, and my cognitive faculties were seriously impaired.

I have basically no video shot for this trip. Just the couple vids shot at the beginning, which, by the way, I thought for a time might be the ironic "last moments" video that would be repeatedly aired during the TV report following the discovery of our frozen bodies...seriously, that did pass through my mind. :scared:

Thanks again, and I look forward to actually hiking with you in the future!

01-20-2013, 17:51

USMCStang

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowhike

I'll be dogged, I told him not to try & ride the ponies again:scared::eek::scared:
:D:rolleyes::D

We almost lost him. By that, I mean the Pony was going to drag him back down to the campground. :D

I was a great weekend. The pot luck was outstanding, WV won a hammock stand, we had some scrapple, and Hickery made some frog legs. The wind was incredible last night, and was rocking my hammock for me.

Make sure you check out my gallery of pics...theres even a few videos in there. Google+ Gallery